


Tell Him!

by GarrieSun



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:02:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22722871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GarrieSun/pseuds/GarrieSun
Summary: A stupid couple has to be forced together sometimes. What better time than Valentine's?
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 16
Kudos: 132





	Tell Him!

**Author's Note:**

> I just. Imagined them like this. Please leave a comment at the end!! Thanks for reading!!

Galo paced the floor of the mech workroom, grumbling to himself. Lucia peeked out from under the spare Matoi Tech she was working on, and squinted.

“You know, you don’t have to wear the jacket if it’s bothering you that much. Inspection isn’t until next week.” Galo looked at her, then increased his grumbling, hands furiously tangling in and out of his hair. Lucia raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not the jacket,” he managed to acknowledge her properly for a moment, before pacing some more, this time more quietly. Lucia considered this, and sighed, returning to the underside of his mech. 

“Might wanna let out whatever you’re thinking about, or you’re just gonna hurt yourself,” she chided, voice rising above the noise of a machine Galo couldn’t see. Galo plopped down on the floor, a safe distance away from the flying sparks, hands on his knees. 

“I like Lio.”

“Yeah, and?” 

Galo blinked. “What do you mean, ‘yeah and’?”

Lucia poked her head out from behind the Matoi Tech now, leaning over to make sure he could see her roll her eyes. “Ya stare at him day in and day out and don’t think _everybody_ in Burning Rescue hasn’t noticed?”

Galo could only look at his foot, which he found to be tapping itself involuntarily. “I haven’t been staring that much.”

Lucia’s unimpressed look goaded an “all right, maybe I do a _little_ ” out of him. She popped her lollipop back in her mouth with an approving nod, returning to the mech.

“So? Are you going to do something about it?”

“No. I mean I should, so I guess yes. Maybe? I don’t know,” Galo babbled, hands in his hair again. 

“Guess you should decide on that, shouldn’t you?” Lucia hollered over her power tool again, and neither of them spoke another word for a good while.

* * *

“Boss, are you okay?” Gueira peered worriedly over the papers Lio was holding up.

“Mm? Yeah, at least I think so? Why?” 

“You’ve been reading that same page for the past half hour,” Meis chimed in from across the room, eyes never leaving his computer screen. 

“Wh--” And so he had. Lio groaned, realizing his eyes had not only been “reading” the same page, but the same word. 

“Is something wrong?”

Lio gave Gueira’s question some actual thought. 

“Not wrong, but…” Meis turned away from his screen now, too.

“Boss, you know you can talk to us. But it’s up to you.” Lio nodded a little too quickly, and was silent for a while longer. Just when they thought better to drop it, Lio murmured, just loud enough for them to hear.

“I think I’m in love with Galo.”

“Boss…” Gueira’s face was serious. “You just realized?”

Lio looked as if he’d just been slapped. Both Meis and Gueira stared back, equally shocked, but not for the same reason. Lio was even quieter now.

“Should I tell him.” The words were spoken to his hands, now clasped between his legs. 

The two looked at each other, and shrugged. 

“It is Valentine’s soon, Boss.”

* * *

The next morning, the door to Ignis’s office was closed tightly shut. “Meeting in Progress”, read a hastily scrawled sign taped on it. Heated voices rose and fell in a cadence of cacophony, for what seemed like hours.

A very determined Burning Rescue team, now including Meis and Gueira, emerged from the aftermath. 

“You think this will work?”

“If it doesn’t, nothing will.”

* * *

“Tickets to the aquarium?” Lio held the tickets up with both hands, staring.

“Yup, on the 14th. You two better make that dinner reservation, too, we had to pull some serious strings for that,” Aina warned. The merest of such details seemed to escape their notice. Galo’s gaze hadn’t left Lio for several moments now, watching the latter’s starry-eyed expression as he stared at the tickets. Lio seemed transfixed by the holographic paper on the tickets, carefully tilting the thick paper back and forth… back and forth.

“Are you listening?!”

  
  


At least Lio had partially been listening, because he showed up at Galo’s apartment an hour before the aquarium opened. 

When the apartment door opened, it did so very quickly. Too quickly--it banged against the wall as it went. 

“G-good morning!” Galo shouted into the 6 a.m. air. Lio shushed him with a short laugh, and Galo clamped his mouth shut, but not before his heart very noticeably skipped a beat.

“Good morning,” Lio spoke, a puff of air falling from those lips Galo would very much like to kiss, but he quickly dismissed the thought. “Shall we go?”

“Sure!” He whispered urgently, and Lio laughed again. Galo could get used to the sound of that.

* * *

Their visit to the crowded aquarium was lost on Galo, he felt. He was quiet, for the most part, his thoughts solely on the expressions Lio was making. His shock at the funny looking ocean sunfish. His intent fascination with the jellyfish. The soft smile he probably hadn't noticed had appeared on his face as he stroked the rays. 

"The sea butterflies look like flames." Lio suddenly spoke, his words soft. Galo tore his gaze from Lio's face to look. They really kind of did. Lio turned to glance at him. 

"Galo."

"Mm?" 

"Are you bored?" 

"Huh? Not at all! Why?"

"You've just been awful quiet." Lio reached up to his face. Galo could feel warmth rushing to his cheeks, when Lio's hand brushed some hair aside, and met his forehead. _Oh_. "Is something else wrong? Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." Galo inadvertently brushed Lio's hand away, then grasped it between his own hands. _Shit_. 

"A-Are you sure." Lio was the one stuttering, after a moment. Galo quickly let go. 

"Ahh, sorry! I just--ahh, don't worry about it!" Galo ran his hands through his hair. Lio laughed for the second time that day, and Galo was proud to say he resisted the urge to just _hug_ him right then and there. 

"AH."

"Hm?"

Galo fumbled his phone out of his pocket. _How did it get so late?_

"We um. I think we're too late for Aina's dinner reservation…"

"Oh…"

* * *

They called the restaurant, but their table had already been given to another party. Lio sighed. 

"Sorry, I wasn't watching the time, either." 

Galo shook his head, and suddenly smiled. 

"Hey, you know what? Why don't I cook for you!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I can make a pretty good pasta, a veggie dish, that kinda stuff! We have to stop by a market, though…" Galo trailed off. 

"That sounds good, actually," Lio smiled. "What are we waiting for?"

Galo beamed.

* * *

Galo was peacefully silent as he cooked, too. Lio admired his practiced movements, and chuckled along with some of his fumbling when Galo re-noticed him watching. The fragrance of garlic soon filled his apartment, and Lio couldn't resist taking a big whiff of the warm scent. 

It wasn't long before Galo set down a dish in front of him, and two others around his small table. 

"Here you are! Matoi pasta!"

He was right. Atop the simple dish that looked and _smelled_ amazing, there was an oval cut out of chicken, above several fettuccine noodles cut short and splayed out to look like that matoi thing Galo loved so much. Lio couldn't help but burst out laughing, and Galo's heart swelled. 

"Better eat it while it's hot!" He grinned wide, and Lio wiped a tear away, forcing himself to calm down. 

"Right then." He picked up the fork, blew on a bite a few times, and put it in his mouth. 

"... How is it?" Galo shifted on his feet nervously. Lio wasn't saying anything, and that wasn't making him any less anxious. Lio suddenly looked up, eyes shining. 

"This is. So good." He suddenly looked conflicted. "Can I really eat this?" 

Galo smiled again. "All yours, eat as much as you want! Eat all of it!" 

Lio picked up the fork again, but stopped. 

"Aren't you gonna eat? Or… sit?"

Galo scratched at his head a little. 

"I… don't really have people over often so there's just one chair."

"You should sit then, it's your home." Lio started to get up, but Galo gently forced him back down by his shoulders. 

"And you're my guest!"

"..."

"..."

"Counter?"

"Counter."

* * *

Since Galo cooked, Lio reasoned, they should go out for dessert, or coffee, Lio's treat. They chatted aimlessly at a nearby cafe for the rest of the evening, from small talk to personal things.

Finally, at a point that he couldn't stand it anymore, Galo sighed deeply, and began rubbing furiously at his hair again. 

"What's wrong?" 

"Nothing, I've just been trying to say something all day and I just don't know how to say it? Do I just say 'I like you' and then--" Galo's hands clapped over his mouth. Lio gaped for a prolonged moment. The silence was stagnant. 

Finally, Lio composed himself and said evenly, "Galo Thymos. Did you mean that?" 

Hands still clasped, clammy over his mouth, Galo slowly nodded yes. 

Lio laughed a little, and leaned back in his chair, face skyward. 

"You said what I'd been trying to say for so long, so easily." Galo's heart leapt. 

"Really?!" Galo's hands were on Lio's again before either of them realized it. 

"Yeah." Lio smiled, and squeezed his hands back. 

"...Are you crying?"

"I'm not!"

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally gonna have Galo propose by accident bc he WOULD but. I figured I should Calm Down so here we are. Please don't forget to leave a comment ♡


End file.
